Mr. Chase's criticism on England. in Ohio was by no
means so extravagant as Mr. Reuter reported it, but rather of the good- humoured, jocose kind. He called us " unneighbonrly," indeed ; but, perhaps, of the people, though not of the Government, this may be true. " Of late years," he said, " we have seen manifesta- tions of an unkind and unfriendly spirit, and sometimes I have felt as if I should like to take mother England by the hair, and give her a good shaking. I am not sure that this would be the ' wisest course." This is not exactly what a Cabinet Minister would say in England ; but the American Cabinet do not go in for official dignities, and always speak in dishabille. But where is the Englishman who has not often expressed, during the different squabbles with America, the ardent wish to chastise Jonathan in a far more violent manner? Mr. Chase was, perhaps, more impru- dent in anticipating that the time would come when " this republic of ours will be re-established from the Gulf towards the Pole, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, based upon free labour ;" but even that is moderate, when compared with the Monroe doctrine, that all interfering races must be violently expelled.
Previous page
